The Circle Game
by Alithea
Summary: Sally and Une play around in the circle game. Prequel/Sequel to events in In My Way There's You and Dare Shall be carried. Yuri warnings apply.
1. Thirteen Steps

**Title: The Circle Game  
Chapter One: Thirteen Steps  
Rating: R  
Characters do not belong to me I am just borrowing.  
Yuri warnings apply.**

Chang Wufei sat in his favorite booth at the Irish style pub that made the best micro-brewed beers he had ever had. He seldom drank, but when he craved something, or felt a drink was needed, he would go to his pub. The fake I.D. he presented was never questioned, and if he chanced to be at the pub with Sally Po his I.D. was never asked for.

He had just brought his glass of stout to his lips. The dark and pretty much black liquid edged towards his lips with a bit of the white and creamy head that sat at the top of the glass. He sipped and savored the chocolate and coffee undertones of the beverage. Then he placed the beer on a coaster and took a deep breath. He looked over at Sally who was staring into her bourbon on the rocks.

"You need a woman." Wufei said and then picked up his glass and took another sip.

Sally blinked and shook the ice around in her glass. A grin tugged at the edge of her lips as her eyebrows rose to greet the unexpected statement. She didn't have anything to say in response. Wufei was the most unabashedly honest person she had ever met, so if he said it he thought it was truth. He was probably right though.

It had been six months since the end of the last Gundam War, and just a little over that since Noin had pretty much dumped her while she was in the middle of a battle. It wasn't exactly unexpected since Sally understood that Noin believed Zechs was still alive, but it didn't hurt any less.

She could have wallowed away in self pity and endless one night stands, because there were plenty of female Preventors who wanted to icomfort/i her. Instead, Sally opted to help Wufei adjust to life as a Preventor. She went out on missions, finished up the last of her training for her doctorate, and tried not to miss that warm sensation of someone sleeping next to her.

Wufei was about half finished with his beer. He looked over at her again and said, "I'm serious."

"I know." Sally replied and finally managed to bring her drink to her lips. "Any suggestions?"

"Don't be cute." He chided and then thought for a moment. "You need someone strong, honorable, just, graceful, and a little aggressive."

"I'll be sure to post that in the singles ad." She shook her head.

"Also," Wufei said quickly, "you should take the Chief Medical Officer position. I bet Une would give it to you."

"Why's that?"

"Because you're qualified and you understand the mentality of a Preventor."

Sally nodded. She set her glass on the table and sat back in her seat. She chuckled. "A woman."

****

"Is this happening now?"

Sally unbuckled her harness and quickly drifted over to the new recruit's station. The gravity had been hit and if they weren't careful the tiny craft would meet an untimely end. She hit a few buttons and the engine of the craft roared back to life.

"I-"

"Don't apologize yet," Sally commanded. "We still have to make it back to earth in one piece." She took a deep breath and then said calmly. "Trust your training, kid."

The young Preventor nodded and found focus he had previously lacked. After a few minutes a face appeared on the monitor and Sally felt a rush of relief.

"Ah, there you are," Lady Une said. "We have you in our sights and have taken care of the rogue mobile suits. Hold tight and we'll reel you in."

"Copy that," Sally said. "Nice to see you stretching your legs out here in space."

Une grinned. "Let's cut the chatter out there."

"Roger."

****

The medical officer on the rescue ship seemed a little intimidated to be prodding at Sally. Sally did her best to sooth the woman's nerves. While she was away on the mission her promotion had apparently gone through, and somehow everyone already knew. She wondered which of her staff or friends had felt the need to spread the information around so freely.

"You're good to go." The doctor said. "Perfect health."

Sally nodded. "That wasn't too terrible was it?"

"Uh…no. I just- Um…" She looked up and immediately stood. "Ma'am."

Sally looked over her shoulder and saw Lady Une leaning in the doorway. The doctor moved out of the room, Une entered and took a seat opposite Sally.

"Your young companion has had nothing but good things to say about you," Une said softly. "I wonder if you should really take the new job."

"I'm sure missions will still come up."

"Not as many as you'd probably like." She reached out and corrected Sally's collar. "Sloppiness there, Preventor Po."

Sally nodded and watched as Lady Une exited the small room. She tilted her head to the side and muttered, "What was that exactly?"

****

"Like Atalanta, you have to drop a few golden apples to get her attention," Trowa said as he dressed.

Wufei nodded. "I'm not sure the things Une has been dropping are shiny or blunt enough."

Trowa shrugged. "It isn't like the movies. We can't just hope their eyes meet just right and then they start making out."

"Hn." Wufei grinned.

"That's a bad sign."

****

Sally leaned back on the small stool the tiny medical bay of the ship had. She was leaning back because she was feeling a little too close to someone she was, by now, very attracted to, and not just physically. If it was just physical it would have been okay. This was verging on dangerous.

Lady Une slowly buttoned the shirt of her uniform. Sally tried not to let her eyes linger on the bullet shaped scars that marked the lady in different places.

"What's the diagnosis?" Une asked softly.

"Perfect health." Sally said and shifted her gaze so that she was looking Une in the eyes. "Any problems with the-"

"No." She tugged at the bottom of the shirt to straighten the line of it. Then she leaned forward and said, "Sally?"

"Hmm."

"Are you tired of circling yet?"

"Yes."

****

The phone was ringing. Sally was too busy to answer it. Later, she'd be glad she missed the call.

In the meanwhile she was a little lost in the sensation of Lady Une tugging gently at her lower earlobe with her teeth.

"Tired of taking things slowly?" Une whispered, and the words sent a chill down Sally's spine.

Sally didn't reply. Instead she turned her head and kissed the lady deeply.

****

Checking her messages Sally didn't know how to even react to the sound of Noin's voice. There was a request in the message. It sounded like it was meant to say, "Take me back." Under the new circumstances there were few ways to reply that wouldn't be taken as a cruel stab. So, Sally erased it and decided to wait until she got into the office to call Noin back.

She meandered back into her room and blinked (in that awestruck wonder only the first calls of love can induce) at the sight of Une asleep in her bed. She sidled forward and then slipped under the sheets. She tentatively kissed along the line of Une's neck until the lady's eyes fluttered open and her arms lazily circled about Sally's waist.

"Good morning," Une said.

"Yes," Sally confirmed. "Very good."

****

"So," Wufei began and took a sip from his coffee cup. He looked over at Sally who was grinning slightly as she shuffled through paperwork.

"I'm not telling you anything," Sally replied softly.

"But that tells me everything."

"Then run with that, but it's all you're getting from me."

He chuckled, and then as he turned to leave he whispered, "And so Atalanta finally picks up an apple."

Sally looked up and blinked. She shook her head and then called out, "I think you've forgotten what happens at the end of that story."

****

Une arched an eyebrow and stepped forward to adjust the olive green tie Sally was wearing with her suit. "This seems…Not quite your style."

"I may have lost a bet."

"And being you, you just can't pretend you wore a dashing suit with an off center tie." She grinned. "But now I'm taller than you in these heels."

"You're always taller than me in heels. It's an awful illusion." Sally sighed and then said, "Do you know I think we were set up?"

Lady Une nodded. "If I recall this has something to do with a Greek myth."

"Fiendish woman," Sally whispered pulling Une closer. "You knew the whole time."

"Most of the time." Une corrected. She kissed Sally and then said, "It wasn't as if I could just charge in and throw you over my horse."

"Why not? Wufei would have found it appropriate."

"You weren't ready." She stepped back and grabbed for her purse that was sitting on the small sideboard in the hallway. "Does it matter if the results were worth it?"

Sally shook her head. "We'll be late. The kid will kill us if we're late."

"Ah yes, distracted by that mushy stuff." Une smiled.

To be continued…


	2. Unintended

**Title: The Circle Game  
Chapter 2: Unintended  
Rating: R  
Characters do not belong to me I am just borrowing.  
Yuri warnings apply. Sexual situations between female chacters.**

"I miss you."

"I know."

"When do you get to come back?"

"I don't know."

"Right."

"Sally, I do love you."

The monitor was switched off. Une pinched the bridge of her nose and wished there was something she could punch that wouldn't break her hand.

****

They hadn't seen each other in a month and a half. Missions and work were getting in the way, and their reunions were becoming sharp around the edges, harsh in the need to impress upon the other a mark.

The door to Sally's office door slammed shut and Une was pinned against the door under a searing kiss. She fought for control and lost, loving and hating the sensation of Sally's dominance, deep kisses, bites along the neck, hastily fumbling to have her.

Une wanted to ask if it was wise for the both of them to be using Sally's office, but then she recalled that day after Sally had been away for weeks and Une had made a mess of her desk to take Sally on it. She let out a hiss from a bite that was too hard, thankful that Sally noted it.

Sally adeptly unbuttoned Une's blouse with one hand using the other to keep the lady's hands pinned above her head. She kissed down the length of the lady's neck while her free hand unclasped Une's light blue silk bra, sliding under the loosed fabric to touch the skin of her lover's breasts and tease at a nipple with her thumb. Sally's knee edged Une's legs a little further apart, and, as she freed the lady's hands so that she might slide along under a short skirt, Une wrapped her arms around Sally's neck clawing into the fabric of the medical officer's shirt.

Une hit her head a little violently against the door when Sally's hand had made its way between her legs. She rolled forward to kiss Sally quickly before the sounds that wanted to escape her throat had a chance. She bit too hard on Sally's lip, but was rewarded by the movement of Sally's fingers inside her, and she drew a leg up around Sally's waist entwining her fingers into wheat blonde hair. Here was ecstasy drenched in utter longing, and all love's favors thrust upon her as welcomed-unwelcomed wanting lust. Finally, she bit down on Sally's shoulder as hard as she could, reaching her climax and unable to freely voice her pleasure.

The world refocusing under softer kisses than she expected or wanted, and tears as Sally whispered, "I know…I know you love me. I'm sorry."

****

"Too much make up sex," Trowa muttered.

Wufei shrugged.

"What if they break up?"

Wufei shrugged again.

"I mean it would be stupid of them to do."

"Stop talking," Wufei commanded. "Things happen as they happen."

"Right," Trowa replied. "Have we turned them into lions yet?"

Wufei huffed and shook his head.

****

"We should break up."

"Fine."

"I-"

"What does it matter we never see each other anyway? Fine, let's break up."

"Sally?"

"I have work to do."

The monitor clicked off and Une shut her eyes. She rubbed at her shoulder where a knot had formed from stress. It had to be for the best. It had to be, but it felt like such a mistake.

****

Lady Une stood outside the operating room where they had taken Sally after the attack on the Preventor headquarters. The damage was great and an internal quake within her brought forth memories from when she had been a rather sadistic colonel. She crossed her arms over her chest and willed herself to a certain state of calm, and more importantly togetherness.

"I thought you said you had to be somewhere?"

She looked over at Chang Wufei and shook her head. "I'll leave when she comes out of there."

"She'll always wear the scars. You should stay."

"I have an operation to lead. Besides, I already ruined things." She shook her head. "Or saved things. Make sure she doesn't lose herself."

Wufei nodded and thought, iYou'll always wear the scars, but they'll heal over./i

To be continued…


	3. A Pebble Called Dare

**Title: The Circle Game  
Chapter 3: A Pebble Called Dare  
Rating: R  
Characters are not mine I am just borrowing.  
Yuri warnings apply.**

"Well, a girl does need a father," the waitress said, unprompted and misunderstanding absolutely everything she had overheard.

Une pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head.

"See," Mariemea said, "a girl needs a father, and Sal would make an excellent father." Then she began giggling uncontrollably.

The waitress stood there dumbfounded for a moment and then walked off to refill the empty coffee mugs of other customers.

"Don't you think your actual legal guardian would frown on that statement?" Une asked and then sighed. "Sorry."

"My father's widow is a nice lady, but I think you've had more to do with my upbringing so far than anyone else." Mariemea stated.

"Yes, well, on that subject, perhaps we should discuss your grades from this last semester."

"Or, maybe, I'll just mind my own business and eat my pancakes," Mariemea said quickly and dug into her food.

Lady Une arched an eyebrow and then had to hide her grin underneath her hand.

****

Trowa Barton was leaning in the doorway of Une's office and she signed a few things before she even looked up at him. When she did he entered and shut the door behind him taking a seat across from her.

"I've been back a month and you're all ready to meddle," Une said softly.

"I think you're being unwise about all this."

"And I think you should remember that I am your superior and my love life is completely of limits."

Trowa nodded and stood up. He paused at the door and then said, "We go to this bar downtown, called Rick's. It's very out of the way." He opened the door and walked out.

Une sat at her desk and then closed the files on two officers that had been at the center of the fight in the main quad. She looked at what she was wearing and decided she would have to go home and change before stepping out and going to a bar.

"Damn meddlers," she said.

****

"I told you it would work," Wufei said softly.

Trowa glared at him. "You said it should work, and it did. Now we really need to stay out of this. They don't need us."

"I know." He shut his eyes and took a sip from his beer. "Now, what to do about that friend of yours and Zechs."

Trowa groaned.

****

"You don't have a lot of stuff," Nichol said as he looked around Sally's apartment.

"I know, but the furniture I do own makes up for the lack of boxes."

Nichol tried to lift up Sally's dresser. "What's it made out of gundanium?"

Sally shook her head. "Nope, just good solid oak."

He nodded, crossed his arms over his chest and looked Sally over. There was a brightness, a shine he hadn't seen in that good eye of hers in a long time. "Do you think you can really share a space with her?"

"I think we need to give it a shot." She positioned herself at the other end of the dresser. "Are you ready? I'd like to get this stuff in the truck before lunch."

Nichol nodded.

****

Une leaned back into Sally as they danced. Sally shut her eye and hugged Une a little closer.

"You're wearing flats today," she muttered.

"I thought you'd appreciate the lack of illusion," Une said.

"The kid called me dad, is there something I should know," Sally asked with a chuckle, eye reopening.

"Inside joke. Don't let her get away with it." She turned around and brushed a thumb across Sally's bottom lip. "You have a tough assignment coming up."

"I know."

Une kissed her. "I've missed this."

"This dancing, or this us?"

"Us." She shut her eyes and rested her head on Sally's shoulder. "I like the strength of it, and knowing that the distance doesn't have to drive us apart."

End.


End file.
